Mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus



J. G. WELCH.

MAIL BAG CATCHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1919.

1,400; 1 4, Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

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34400144501, 7 L/mes 6/1422)? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMIES G. WELCH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OZ? ONE-FOURTH TO JOHN SINCLAIR, ONE-FOURTH TO HARRY JOHN GROSS, AND ONE-FOURTH TO WIL- LIAM AITCHISON, ALL OF DETROIT, llr'IIOHIGAN.

MAIL-BAG OATCHING AND Application filed June 2 T 0 all whom it may concern. Be it known that I, James G. \VELorI, citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the county of StJLouis City, and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catching and Delivering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail bag catching and delivering apparatus, and the object thereof is to provide a simple and efficient apparatus for receiving and delivering mail bags to and from a passing railroad train, and holding them until manually released.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of this character constructed to deliver and catch rings having bags suspended there from.

IVith the foregoing and other objects in View, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus constituting this invention shown in operation, both the car carrying and station crane apparatus being illustrated,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, the car being shown in section, and

Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation of the upper portion of the station crane.

In the embodiment illustrated, a station crane is shown in the form of a post 1 braced at its base by braces 2. A plate 3 is secured to the front face of the upper port-ion of the post 1 and has arms 4: and 5 extending in opposite directions from the top and bottom edges of said plate, said arms being offset laterally from the front face of the plate whereby said arms are disposed in different horizontal planes. The arm 4 has a spring clip 6 at its free end and opening outwardly as is shown clearly in Fig. 1 and which is designed to support between it and the arm 4: a ring 7 from which is suspended mail bag B.

The other arm 5 tapers toward its free end Specification of Letters Patent.

DELIVERING APPARATUS.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

Serial No. 306,314.

8 and has an undercut shoulder 9 formed intermediate its ends on its upper face, and which is designed to receive and hold a ring carrying a mail bag B, the ring being shown in Fig. 1 at 20. A spring metal strip 10 is secured at its opposite ends to the lower face of arm 5, being bowed outwardly intermediate said ends, and which is designed to assist in retaining the mail bag ring on the arm 5, it being understood that the extent of the bowed portion of the spring strip is suflicient to just permit the ring 7 of the mail bag being forced over the bowed portion and shoulder 9 whereby it will be prevented from accidental displacement from the arm after it has been properly delivered thereto.

The car carrying apparatus comprises a rod 11 positioned transversely across the doorway of a mail car C and mounted at its ends in bearings 12. An arm 13 is carried by the rod 11 and extends at right angles therefrom as shown in Fig. 2, having a handle 14; at its inner end for actuation by an operator within the car. The free end 15 of this arm is curved laterally and pointed at its terminal as shown at 16. A shoulder 17 is formed on the arm 13 intermediately of its ends, and is designed as an abutment for a mail bag ring 7 through which the free end of the arm 13 passes when in use.

A spring clip 18 is carried by the arm 13 on the end 15 thereof, and opens in a direction opposite to the pointed terminal 16. This clip 18 is composed of a spring metal strip riveted to the front end of arm 13 and equipped with a thumb nut or set screw 19 for controlling the tension of the clip.

In the use of this apparatus, the parts be ing in the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with a bag B suspended from the arm 4: of

,the station crane, and a bag 13 from arm 13 of the train crane, with the car moving in the direction of the arrow a, it will be obvious that arm 5 of the station crane will pass through the ring 20 of bag B and cause it to move outwardly from clip 18 and to slide upon the sloping portion of the free end of the arm 5, which will cause the ring 7 of the mail bag to engage the bowed portion of the spring strip 10 to cause the same to flex inwardly when the ring may pass inwardly of the arm beyond the shoulder 9 and the bowed portion of the strip. Thus it will be seen that after the ring of the mail bag is passed over these parts, the spring strip 10 will spring outwardly into its normal position, and prevent accidental displacement of the ring from the arm. The continued moving of the train causes the laterally extending ointed finger 16 of arm 13 to enter the ring supported by arm 4 of the station crane and will force said ring 7 out from under clip 6 passing it back on to the arm 13 against the abutting shoulder 17 where it will be retained until removed by the trainmen.

From the above description it will be obvious that the arm 13 Will operate both as a catcher and deliverer for mail bags, and is positioned to cooperate with the arms 4 and 5 of the station crane 1 for receiving therefrom and delivering thereto, mail bags to be interchanged.

From the above description it will be obvious that this apparatus, although very simple in construction, strong and economical to manufacture, is equally eficient as the more complicated and expensive structures employed for this purpose and may be readily'applied to any mail car or supporting post 1 already in use.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the-device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made as are within the scope of the claimed invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a mail sack having a loop; of an arm upon which the loop is adapted to pass, said arm having yielding means associated with one side thereof, and a sloping portion on the arm opposite the yielding means and upon which the mail sack loop'is adapted to ride, the yielding means and sloping portion rendering the size of the arm such that the loop cannot pass thereon and beyond the yielding means without causing the latter to flex. 7

2. The combination with a mail bag having a loop; of an armupon which the loop is adapted to pass, said arm having a sloping 1 JAMES o. WELCH.

Witnesses:

ALBERT E. RATHERT, EUGENE L. WEBER. 

